by There were at least 20 minutes on Monday morning with sunshine, enough to warm the heart and tease that spring, like an odd royal at a farm shop, is easing into its quaint fold. Throw on your winter coat, start your moth-proofing knitwear and get on with it.
For a wardrobe refresh, you might want to change your look a bit. I think we can safely say that the tyranny of the floral dress has loosened its petal grip around our décolleté. There is a soupçon de Sloane in the air, mixed up with a slightly Provençal louche attitude. The new mood is a mixed bag of tailoring and laidback, a striped city boy shirt with wide leg trousers. A pop of red can do no wrong right now. Little styling details and ways to put things together will bring your existing wardrobe to life a little more. One step at a time, of course.
Here are 12 tips to help you along the way…
The vertical striped shirt
Huge news in stripes: ditch your Brit and go vertical. This might sound crazy, but a crisp shirt in a chic colored stripe is very much His Thing. If you have extra to spend I can’t recommend Yaitte, an independent super sweet brand based in London, enough. Baoi shirts (in mustard and green, £225, yaitte.com) are a signature. With Nothing Underneath is a great one-stop option and has a lovely green iteration of a striped boy for £120 (withnothingunderneath.com); see also Hush brown and white striped Indy oversized, mine £79 (hush.co.uk).
Brown striped Indy shirt, £79, hush.co.uk
Boy’s Tencel Shirt, Forest Green Stripe, £120, outside of nothing.com
Take a denim skirt
I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent trying to find decent denim skirts over boring knee length styles. But just like that, here we are drowning in things. Stock up before they snesk out again. Levi’s has a great maxi length (in black, £80, levi.com). Zara has lots of styles, but I’m really into her fish-hemmed paneled one (£35.99, zara.com). See also Jigsaw for its stylish frayed hem midi style (£95, jigsaw-online.com).
Raised Denim Midi Skirt, £35.99, zara.com
The easy dress
For those looking for a more au courant solution to the previous take on the floral midi dress and do with it, may I present the easy dress? Which does exactly that. Chuck on, look done and forget about it. The key is a loose but not overwhelming silhouette in a neutral color where you can play around and layer it – pop a polo neck underneath, an open shirt over the top; endless combinations will work. ME+EM is a great spot for a good frock, their textured maxi dress in cream (£195, meandem.com) is stunning. See also Albaray’s two-tone cream and black jersey tank dress (£69, albaray.co.uk), Hush’s Tatum denim maxi dress (£95, hush-uk.com) and Cos for her T-shirt dress with pleated skirt ( £ 95, cos.com). Pair with your trench now, alone later.
Textured maxi dress, £195, meandem.com
Tatum denim maxi dress, £95, hush-uk.com
The Jacket 2.0
A workwear jacket is the reliable staple that every wardrobe should have. Handily, US brand Everlane has teamed up with Marques’ Almeida, who is returning to London Fashion Week, for a rather cool collaboration. There are a few options, but the canvas patchwork in khaki green (£232) is a real keeper. Available from March 24 at everlane.com. Wear it with everything and enjoy the proliferation of pockets.
Everlane x Marques’ Almeida, Patchwork Canvas Jacket, £232, siirlana.com
Loafer vs kitten heels
Choose your Warrior footwear. Ballet shoes and mary-janes are still happening, but the omnipresent loafer, which is more serviceable to trough across the Tube into Uniqlo’s C line by Clare Waight Keller is a great chunky pair (£39.90, uniqlo.com) although indeed, not you can beat classic GH Bass Weejuns – its new black and white penny loaves feature on (£160, ghbass-eu.com). The next resurrection is coming through the kitten heel. Russell & Bromley have a stunning pair of silver bows (£295, russellandbromley.co.uk) that will spice up your most boring outfit; see also Charles and Keith’s top coat pair (£65, charleskeith.co.uk).
Left to right; Sepphe Cut Out Mules, £65, charleskeith.co.ukBow Point Mesh Low Heel, russellandbromley.co.ukEasy Weejuns Soft Penny Loafers, Black & White Leather, £160, ghbass-eu.com
Personality socks
Your easiest styling trick: socks. Specifically, the look of the ones that make your outfit instantly more interesting. Example: your old blue jeans, white T-shirt? Add a jaunty block color sock to a loafer et voila: instant personality over the crowd. Uniqlo and Arket are good places to stock up, as is Pairs Scotland which has a fine red pair in merino wool (£15, pairs-scotland.com) Note: this absolutely excludes anything with a pattern. Terrible.
Red merino socks, £15, pair-scotland.com
Go on board with shorts
Youngsters and the young might be tempted to step into the microstyles that abounded on the sidewalks, but for anyone with an actual job, turn your head to the new short mood board. Make them as you would trousers, ie. make them as smart as you want. I like the idea of pairing with a T-shirt, under shirt, under a sweater and then ditching a piece as the weather warms up. For weekends, Cos has a great denim pair (see also matching shirt), and Ghost London has the sweet Bella shorts in black satin from their premium Studio line coming early April.
Broken denim shorts, £85, cos.com
Bella Clips, £129, coming early April, ghost.co.uk
Totes again
Rejoice, giant bags are back with a bang, for all your travel needs. Note Kate Moss in the Cotswolds at the weekend with her large woven basket bag; see also Taylor Russell and Loewe roomy matching boyfriend Harry Styles and his The Row Margaux. Does the couple he marries together stay together? Watch this space. Sézane and Whistles have excellent basket bags that work in the city options (the key, unless you’re going to a country market). A little leather trim works wonders here. For something a little more serious for commuting, I prefer the very practical ANNYDAY red hot tote at £49 (johnlewis.com).
Eyelets, Zoelle Paper Weave Eyelet Tote, £99, arriving April 5, sezane.com
East/West Sia Minimal Tote Bag, Red, £49, johnlewis.com
A white jean
No one was more surprised than me to find a wardrobe savior in the form of a pair of white jeans. I can also reveal that I wore them on a flight and all day and didn’t spill anything on them which shows that maturity comes to us all. Mine are palazzo leggings from Good American (currently on sale on Net-a-porter if you’re quick). These are trying to be loose in the leg – we’re not venturing into Nineties Liz Hurley territory. I don’t know what it is about white, but it’s instantly sharp. Jigsaw has a great pair that are helpfully hit above the ankle (£95, jigsaw-online.com). See also Arket’s Cloudly-legged pair (£97, arket.com).
Marsh Legs Jumper, £89, aline.co
Dress-down tailoring
Smart trousers are such a winner when worn with a T-shirt or other low-key top. We are very much in high-low territory here. M&S has a great pair of beige leggings for a very friendly £29.50 and a gray Uniqlo:C wide-legged suit (worn by designer Clare Waight Keller with white trainers at a brand preview this week) is machine washable (£79.90 for jacket, £39.90 for trousers, uniqlo.com). For a slightly sexier mood, check out the Reiss camel suit (£248, reiss.com) which Saint Laurent brings to life. Word of advice – ditch that slightly naff tie belt and add your own leather head for better punctuation.
Cotton Blend Wide Leg Chinos, £29.50, marksandspencer.com
Liliana, Lyocell Wide Leg Jumper, £248, reiss.com
The joy jacket
The kick back is all well and good, but where is the spirit to surprise you? Sometimes you just need a wardrobe addition to bring you untold amounts of joy – have a spring fling and a jacket that does just that. Pink City Prints’ printed Margaret jacket in lime and pink is just as exciting (£175, pinkcityprints.com). See also Toast’s kantha jackets made from recycled saris (£175, toa.st). For something wilder, Ganni’s leopard print (£295, ganni.com) is great fun.
Lime Jungle Margaret jacket, £175, pinkcityprints.com
Leopard cotton canvas jacket, £295, ganni.com
The sleeveless knitting
Get into these and you’ll never look back. The new term floating around is sandwich dressing, which is basically what we call layering, which is really just another way of wearing different pieces of clothing at the same time. It’s tiring, isn’t it? Still, sleeveless knitwear will be your friend over a shirt/top/dress and under a blazer/trench/bomber, and later all by itself. Reformation is one of my favorite places for knitwear, Marnie’s is a great brown and cream (£148, thereformation.com). See also Uniqlo: Camel C clutch with cute red trim (£24.90, uniqlo.com).
Marnie Oversized Cotton Jumper Vest, £148, eolas.com
